Pubblicato il 22 dicembre 2023 da UNISER Interviews

Meet the team! – The unpredictable predictability of Benedetta

Hello Benedetta and thanks for taking part in this interview! This time I would like to start with something inspirational! Is there a quote, a film, or a song that has a special meaning to you? Why?

So, you’re posing an extremely challenging question right now. The challenge lies in the fact that I see and read many things, but all in a completely incoherent way—no parameters or order—so I have no favourites in terms of styles, authors, or periods hmmm… Actually, I could talk to you about “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring Again” by Kim Ki Duk, a magnificent film by this late Korean director. I recently rewatched it, and it’s fresh in my memory. I’d be glad to discuss it and recommend everyone to watch it, especially now that we’re at the end of the year. It’s a good way to remind ourselves that life is a continuous cycle of seasons filled with many small facts and seemingly casual happenings that we must listen to, see, and “endure” without fear. So, to answer your question, the special meaning for me aligns with a somewhat Epicurean concept of “Panta Rei,” meaning everything flows. Indeed, let’s let the river water flow, for that is inevitably what will happen. And without fear, as the phantom “hindsight” is a chimera anyway; quantum theory tells us that temporally only today exists, so let’s worry not and make our soul at peace.

But then, I didn’t even tell you about the movie in the end—well… Actually, I wanted to start this beautiful interview with a incredible show, “Hybris” by Rezza/Mastrella (authors I love very much), which recently won the prestigious Ubu prize as the best theatre show of 2022. I saw it last year at the Arena Del Sole in Bologna, and I plan to see it again in January in Rome. However, it would have been a disaster to explain what it means to me because first of all, I would have had to explain what it means in general, and I think this is particularly difficult with Rezza/Mastrella shows. So, do this: just trust me and go see it.

Could you tell us how you came in contact with Uniser and when?
Sure! Here we go: “Once upon a time, there was a king sitting on the sofa who said to his lady, ‘Tell me a little story.’ The lady began: ‘Once upon a time, there was a king sitting on the sofa who said to his lady…’
Now, seriously (sorry, but that’s more or less how it went). You know that I live in Porto15, a cohousing community in Bologna, with Lucia Mancino. Well, Lucia has talked a lot about Uniser with her cohabitants, including me. I have a degree in law, so let’s say that the beginning of my career was a bit more (much) serious and “categorised”, and far from the Uniser world. It took me some time to figure out what my true path was (and I still may not know).

Anyway, my first interview with Uniser was in Forlì with Ele Tagliavini for the position of company research, I think, in 2015/2016. At that time, I wasn’t really interested, and at the same time, I had been taken on at the theatre (where I had been an usher during my university studies), where I would later work for 5 years. So, nothing, I wasn’t ready yet; it wasn’t my time with Uniser. The opportunity presented itself in July 2021, when, with only two weeks’ notice, I was sent with a group of 12 students to Paphos, where despite the combo of the heat plus Covid (Bianca knows something about this), I had a very nice time.

But even there, I actually got lost for a while again because right after my experience at GL, I decided to go to Cyprus to do the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs. So, I went back to knock on the doors of Uniser as GL two more times only in the following summer, 2022 (France and Spain). Then, I stood in for Isidora for a fortnight in August 2022 in the hosting team, and finally, after bothering nearly everyone (Ceci and Elena know something about it), I officially joined as a Tutor/Mobility Coordinator in November 2022.

Since you entered as a staff member, what have you been doing? What are your main duties?

This, however, is a question already answered by my fellow colleagues, so I will finally be brief. Are you happy? 🙂
I am part of the mobility coordinator team, responsible for the practical aspect of the Uniser organisational machine. What do we do? We manage relations with the school (alongside our beloved accounts) and partners abroad. We oversee students’ mobilities from the moment of organising their departure until their return, handling various bureaucratic tasks before departure and after their return.

Which ones do you enjoy the most and why?

My favourite part of my job, in general, is problem-solving. That is, our work is predictably unpredictable; anything can really happen. In this sense, therefore, it cannot be boring (even if we try, rightly, to make it so with the blessed ‘process’), any more than any single human being on earth can be boring. I don’t know if it’s a Uniser problem, but I can guarantee that the human beings we (mostly students) interface with are always capable of providing great thrills!

My favourite aspect is the relational one. It has taught me, always, to ask myself before anything else: “Will this concept really be taken for granted?” Trivially, knowing that in order to face a month of mobility, you need to bring a suitcase with clothes can be an absolutely not taken-for-granted concept.

In general, what do you do to motivate yourself, both at work and in your personal life?

It’s simple: I try to look at everything in a Yang way (for those less Taoist than I am, I mean something like “the sunny side of the hill”). As I mentioned earlier about Kim Ki Duk’s film, life is a repeating cycle of seasons, and I’ll add this new concept that they are simultaneously made up of positive and negative elements. There can’t be one without the other, a bit like Harry Potter and Voldemort, so we might as well acknowledge and especially remember this, both when we are more Yin and when we are more Yang (and that, in fact, we even feel more youthful all of a sudden).

Literal version: I take myself and my friends (this means you all too) on a tour of “ugly bars” to have fun. And in the meantime “sun, wind, wine, and tra-la-la” (Misha Sapego)*, and we forget about it all.

*Editorial note: I investigated the web, the AI systems, and my fellow translator friends but it’s impossible to find the English version of this Russian poem. Here’s the original version in Russian for those who master it:
“заболею… умру…
а пока –
солнце, ветер, вино, трали-вали…”

In general, is there something you’re particularly proud of?

You mean apart from my likability, acuity, intelligence, beauty and perspicacity? No, come on, I’m joking. I take pride in one very simple thing: I have often been recognized as a reference point in times of difficulty. I don’t believe I’ve ever provided solutions to anyone (and who has?), because the truth is, being there for someone in difficulty can only and exclusively mean ‘being there’ in the way and time that one can manage—that’s all. But what is more human than that in the end?

What do you like to do in your free time? Any hobbies or activities that you would like to share with us?

Ooooh, well. So many things.
I love wandering around the hills of Bologna or cycling with my dad in Abruzzo on my beloved blue Serious hybrid bike. I adore all types of leavened goods—every shape, genre, type, colour, and smell—and I especially love making them (pizza more than anything else). I enjoy the theatre, both watching and reading about it (and reading in general). I like to sing; I spent many years in a women’s choir of sacred music. After two vocal cord surgeries, I now perform secular music of the oral tradition. I have a fondness for samba and percussion, specifically surdo segunda and terceira. If you want to give me a gift, send me to Rio for the Carnival! I appreciate collaborative living and its derivatives (associationism, cooperativism, etc.). I have a taste for good wine, but also good beer (and sometimes even bad hard liquor, depending on the time of day and what I drank before). I also enjoy listening to nature and most of all, being with people 🙂

What’s your ideal type of vacation and why?
I’d say a few beers and a tent to toss into any part of the world (after, of course, a thorough and proper tour of Abruzzo and a complete immersion in the world’s most beautiful folk music festival in Arsita, Valfino Al Canto – August 9/10/11, 2024; mark the date in your agenda!